It is known that, usually, hospital structures are provided with a washing plant to pre-wash, wash, heat disinfect and sterilize objects, such as for example instruments used in the operating rooms and hence potentially infected and not sterile, before they are able to re-use them.
In particular, known washing plants are normally divided into several sectors, isolated from each other for reasons of hygiene and respectively called “dirty” or reception sector, “clean” sector and “sterile” sector.
In the first sector, that is, the dirty one, the racks containing the dirty objects to be subjected to the various treatments arrive. The treatments carried out are, generally speaking, a pre-wash with cold water only, a possible wash in an ultrasound bath, a hot water wash with possible detergents, the necessary rinses, heat-disinfection and final drying. In particular, heat-disinfection, which is a particular type of washing, is carried out with hot water, usually at a temperature comprised between about 90° C. and about 93° C.
Usually the pre-wash is carried out by means of a battery of suitable pre-wash machines or units, for example two or three, disposed aligned on a determinate axis of alignment, so as to operate in series with each other.
The cycle that provides washing, rinsing, heat-disinfection and drying is carried out on the contrary in a battery of suitable washer machines, for example five or six, according to the productivity needs, aligned on a respective axis of alignment, so as to operate in parallel with each other.
The racks with the objects to be washed are taken at exit from the last pre-wash unit and fed to the washing and heat-disinfection machine available at that moment.
Each washing and heat-disinfection machine, since it operates in parallel with the other washer machines and consists of a washing chamber with an opening facing toward the dirty side and an opposite opening facing toward the clean side, must be fed in a direction that is orthogonal to its axis of alignment with the other washing and heat-disinfection machines. Normally, the feed is effected by means of a translator slider mobile in the direction of alignment of the washer machines, which receives the racks containing the objects to be washed at exit from the pre-wash battery, or from a loading station. The translator slider transports them in correspondence with the entrance to one of the washer machines selected on each occasion according to the washing program set, or according to availability, and also moves them inside the desired washer machine in the direction of feed.
On the contrary, in the pre-wash units, which operate in series, the direction of feed coincides with the axis of alignment along which the pre-wash battery develops.
Normally, therefore, the second washing and heat-disinfection battery is disposed downstream of the pre-wash battery and with its axis of alignment perpendicular to the axis of alignment of the pre-wash battery. Therefore, the axis of alignment of the pre-wash units is orthogonal to the axis of alignment of the washing and heat-disinfection machines. In this way the objects exiting from the last pre-wash unit are ready to be sent directly to the washing and heat-disinfection machines.
Some examples of this embodiment of such washing plants can be found in the European patent applications EP-A-1.787.662 and EP-A-1.787.731 in the name of the present Applicant.
After being heat disinfected and dried, the objects pass to the second clean sector in which they are possibly packed and from here are fed to a battery of sterilization machines, generally autoclaves, which sterilize them; they operate in parallel and are typically aligned in a direction parallel to the washing and heat-disinfection battery.
The objects thus sterilized pass to the following third sterile sector where they are stored or again sent for use in the operating room.
One disadvantage of known washing plants is that, in order to carry out at least the pre-wash and the washing and heat-disinfection, they have very large installation sizes.
To overcome this disadvantage, a compact plant is known from the international application WO-A-2009/030599, in the name of the Applicant, where the axis of alignment of the pre-wash units is substantially parallel to the axis of alignment of the washer machines, with switching means being provided directly at exit from the pre-wash battery, which direct the racks with the objects in the suitable direction of feed to the washer machines. The racks containing the objects to be washed, once correctly directed, are translated on movement means of the fixed type which operate by displacing the racks in the direction of feed toward the translator slider, where they are then moved as described above.
However, this known solution too, in particular contexts where the installation spaces of the plant are narrow or not optimal, may suffer from an excessive bulk.
Purpose of the present invention is to achieve a perfected washing plant that takes up little space, that is compact and allows an easy passage of the objects to be washed to the washing and heat-disinfection machines.
The Applicant has devised, tested and embodied the present invention to overcome the shortcomings of the state of the art and to obtain these and other purposes and advantages.